Women-Powered Coffee Summit Brings Fresh-Roasted Dialogue to Costa Rica in November 2023
One year ago, Bean Voyage launched the inaugural Women-Powered Coffee Summit (“WPCS”), an intentional two-day event in Alajuela, Costa Rica that brought together more than 130 female coffee producers, traders, roasters, baristas and researchers from across Latin America and beyond to share insights and foster connections through their common bond of coffee (Read report here)
Now, the team aims to spread the impact even further as more than 180 participants will convene in Alajuela for the second edition of the dynamic summit. With goals to unlock potential and create opportunities for women in the industry to build thriving businesses, Bean Voyage welcomes participants who will descend upon the Hacienda Doka this November 2-3, 2023, for the second annual WPCS.
Spotlighting women as protagonists of their own stories, WPCS provides an opportunity for women coffee producers particularly from Latin America to learn, connect, and share in a safe and inclusive space to grow their careers in such a type of event that has historically had barriers for smallholder women coffee producers.
At the forefront of the 2023 WPCS are threads of sustainability and equity for all in the industry, which weave into several sessions during the 2023 event. Many of the much-anticipated Care Talks, which are Ted-Talk style presentations, as well as workshops and panels will be centered around the importance of climate considerations and intersectionality, emphasizing the ways in which technology and innovation in the industry can provide a better future for coffee farming.
Damna Reyes Hernandez of Kitos Café , Dalila Parras Solis of Vamay Coffee, and Alejandra Díaz of Finca La Cotuza will lead summit-goers through a dynamic panel on the future of coffee and Yimara Agudelo of the Coffee Quality Institute will host a workshop on brewing resilience against climate and economic volatility as just two of the highlights of Day One of the 2023 WPCS.
Leaning into sustainability and industry-wide equity, speakers and participants will also confront the topic of a powershift across the coffee value chain and participate in discussions about how to equip key players in the industry with the tools they need to unlock potential and be part of an industry change.
On Day Two of the Summit, Kat Melheim, of Roasterkat and Coffee People Zine, will open the day with a thought-provoking Care Talk on roasters’ vision for equity and sustainability. Participants will then get to unpack these ideas in a Roaster Roundtable on shifting power through roasting: exploring alternative business models. Fabiola Solano of Soy Barista will lead this session with Abbigail Graupner of Chica Bean and Laurel Carmichael of VOTE Coffee moderating the intriguing discussion.
Day Two also features a Care Talk by Yerlin Vargas Solano of Coffee Institute of Costa Rica (ICAFE), who will speak on technology as an ally against climate change.
Several other speakers and coffee industry thought leaders will speak to participants on a variety of stimulating topics, from an outlook on coffee-producing regions of Mesoamerica by Noel Arrieta Espinoza of San Francisco Bay Coffee to stories of women in coffee from Lucia Bawot, author of We Belong, to the art of coffee tasting and finding value beyond the cupping score from Team Women in Coffee Exchange (TWICE) representatives Amaris Gutierrez-Ray, Giselle Barrera and Stephanie Welter-Krause, to impactful branding through social media by Ivannia Alvarado, and more.
At last year’s Summit, the team behind TWICE (Amaris, Giselle, and Stephanie) met and formed a team to work together on providing greater transparency, and quality information to smallholder women coffee farmers. They are returning for a second iteration to share more about their work and lead a quality workshop.
Similarly, a group of coffee producers from Tarrazú connected and bonded through the two-day event in 2022 and formed a new association that has already moved the needle on community-led development in coffee-producing communities. As the event unfolds, we can’t wait to find out what transpires from the dynamic group attending the 2023 WPCS.
To learn more about the Summit’s agenda, check out this link!
Written by Jenna Jay
You can download the press release in English, and Spanish and reach out to wpcs@beanvoyage.org to get photos.
